While tumbling around the magic forum equivalent of a half-hearted reach around aka The Cafe, I found two things:

First, they have scrubbed any and all references​ to this blog entirely.

Magic needs to be discussed openly, but it seems like the place where everyone gets to voice their opinion unless they disagree with some random asshole keyboard warriors (well known or not) or get banned for mispronouncing the name of Steve Brooks’ third nipple.

Second, some interesting news that I have missed for some upcoming book releases mentioned by Richard Kaufman:

Larry Jennings book finally to come out in 2018, only 21 years after it should have

English translation of Dani DaOrtiz’ book on Hofzinser (including material from Juan Tamariz)

A book on packet tricks from Hideo Kato, including a DVD and special cards

Other honorable mentions he noted were:

Geoff Latta book by Stephen Minch to be released later this year via Penguin as the new owners of Hermetic Press

Apologies for my absence. Technical difficulties arose. And by technical difficulties, I just technically stopped giving a fuck about what you all thought. I’ve been living it up in the French Riviera, setting my ass hairs on fire and huffing the fumes, reinventing shit ways to make more money, making you all buy repackaged/regurgitated shit you probably already own.

But enough about me, we’re here to talk about Pit, and his latest work of exceptional card magic, focusing solely on the topic of memorized/stacked deck magic.

I first read about Pit in Oliver Eren’s ‘Concerto’s for Pasteboards‘ (2000), an unusual but enjoyable collection of card magic from a range of German/Swiss magicians, many of whom are still not commonly known unfortunately. Pit’s single contribution was enough to get me slightly moist, leading me to search him out. Eventually, I found the Flicking Finger’s ‘The Book’ or ‘Don’t Forget to Point’ (1998) and tour DVD (2003), finding a new and refreshing change on how entertaining and enjoyable a magic DVD/book could be. Pit’s alter ego, The Heinz, became a thing to aspire to; his magnificent hairline, his captivating eyes, his breathtaking lips and the spectacular shirt and Colonel Sanders bow tie combo. The complete package.

Doctors usually advise you if an erection lasts for longer than four hours, you should seek medical attention. Luckily, I was able to tide myself over with Pit’s seminal solo book of card magic, ‘Card Fictions‘ (2003), giving us a glimpse into his extremely well-constructed card magic mixed with the often overlooked genre of the memorized deck, or stacked deck.

Following what has been the longest semi-boner maintained in the history of erections has culminated in the new standard of book with ‘In Order to Amaze‘, amassing 252 pages of solid stack work which doesn’t feel labored, tedious and oddly same-y.

Just as ‘Card College’ has become the new standard/go to for learning card magic fundamentals, as the torch passed from Erdnase to ‘Stars of Magic’, Pit’s book is the progression/evolution of what the new standard of teaching, creating and performing with a memorised deck should be.

That is not to say that those who have come before him are irrelevant/outdated or disparage the works of Simon Aronson, Juan Tamariz et al. The works of Aronson and Juan have been crucial in seeing both the intricacies and complexities of structure possible by exploring a stack as a framework, but also the organic nature and “play” that can be had by using a stack in conjunction with sleight of hand to create some amazing magic.

Where Pit’s book stands out from the previous go-to books on stack work is that almost all of the tricks are stack-independent and are able to take you back into stacked order fairly simply at the end of an effect/routine. While some may see this as ‘spoon-feeding’ the reader, it shows a meticulous, almost scientific approach to effect construction for two goals; 1) the effects don’t look or feel inherently like stack work and 2) the effects allow you to reset into whichever stack order you need, which is perfect for everyone from the hobbyist to the working professional, catering to the variety of well-known stacks as well as self-developed stacks.

Ok, this intro has dragged on way too fucking long.. let’s get to the good stuff

Catch Me If You CanTwo ‘Detective’ cards are inserted face up into a shuffled deck by a spectator after they have freely named a card. The cards are squared and then spread, showing a face down card trapped between the two ‘Detectives’; the selected card! A second deck, which has been in full view before the effect started, is opened and slowly dealt by the spectator, showing their named card sandwiched by the same two ‘Detective’ cards.

At first glance, the method may seem fairly straightforward, however it’s a beautifully direct and uncluttered effect; the mileage and impact you get out of it is well worth it. The attention to detail in how the effect is paced and staged, even for something like a sandwich effect, is fucking brilliant. Pit has also included some variations on how the effect can be handled, allowing for different conditions to be met, depending on your tastes but also allowing complete beginners to seasoned stack users to achieve the same effect.

The HeavyweightThe magician shows his ability to ‘weigh’ cards. First, the spectator cuts a packet and the magician announces the exact number cut. The spectator cuts off another packet, the performer cuts off the exact same number before they are even counted. Finally, the magician is able to predict the amount of cards cut by a spectator before they’re even touched.

As Pit notes, counting cards can be an inherently boring situation which can weaken effects like Cards Across or ACAAN unless it’s made into a moment of tension and importance; something the audience cares about and wants to be emotionally invested in. Most effects have a similar caveat, but usually have much less effort to make the plot/conditions tangible and enticing.

The method itself is very solid and easy to follow along if you’re just getting comfortable with a stack, and the beauty of this effect is that during the ‘downtime’ of counting, this gives you a chance to ‘play’ the room and focus on your presentation; the method doesn’t need you to focus while the counting is happening. Fuck yeah.

SherlockA card is freely selected and lost into the deck while held by the spectator, and the deck is then shuffled. Using the power of deduction, the performer is able to eliminate all the cards and reveal the selection.

The method for this effect is actually one of the first practice drills I was taught when learning a stack. It’s a beautiful way to practice within a method without it looking like a method. Pit notes that this is a great example of molding the effect to your own performance style and rhythm (or learning and developing it), since the presentation of deducing the selected card can be done in a serious or lighthearted way and still play really strongly.

Close EncountersAnother beautiful two deck routine. A spectator freely shuffles a deck and three cards are selected by different spectators. Each of the spectators then returns their card face up anywhere in the second deck held by the magician. The deck is spread to show that each of the free selections has been inserted directly next to its mate.

The method is nothing crazy or unusual, but the pacing and staging for how the cards are handled are what makes this a really beautiful and disarming routine. As a bonus, the clean up for this routine at the end of the write-up is a really devious and almost mindless looking way of returning to required cards to their stack order. Highly recommend looking into this.

Following this effect, there’s a slight tangent on discussing methods and context/cover for estimation and cutting cards in a stack to required positions, which I felt like could have been expanded. However, after finishing the book, the treatment and additional discussion in the context of specific effects made the discussion more tangible and relevant.

The CoreThis is a weird one. The magician describes a figurative garden of Eden, with fruits with cards at their core (German’s are fucking weird sometimes). A spectator names the card at the ‘core’ and the magician ‘peels’ the deck layer by layer, leaving him holding the named card.

At first glance, I thought this method wasn’t going to be simple to follow and that there would be a lot of unnecessary mental gymnastics to calculate where I was and what to do next as the effect went on. I was so fucking wrong. The main write-up explains the proper approach and WHY it works, but in the comments section, Pit outlines another way which allows the performer to do the same effect following a simple rule.

Also, the cleanup/returning home for the end of this effect was just fun to do. After practicing this a few times, I would giggle to myself like a little bitch over how everything was back as it should be. I wish I could have a Pit to call my own, I would dry hump him into oblivion.

Thought ExchangeAnother two card selection; the spectator and the magician each mentally selecting a card from their respective halves of the deck. The halves are then shuffled/cut, swapped and spread in front of both the spectator and the magician. The magician pushes the card he feels the spectator selected out of his spread, and the spectator does the same for what he feels could be the magician’s card. The spectator and magician both name the cards they have only thought of up to this point. The cards are turned over to show a perfect match; they have found each others thought of card!

While it may read a little long for the effect description, I really wanted to step out how amazingly fair and open this effect looks (and is). Again, the method here is actually not tedious or laborious and achieves so much mileage from the foundations of using a stack, a few subtleties and some sleights. The amount of ‘play’ you get out of this is ridiculous. The method can also be done if the deck isn’t fully in stack, so you can throw this in part way through a routine that might destroy part of your stack. Fucking brilliant.

There’s also a parlour style version of this effect on p.112 titled ‘Just Like That’ which goes through a different method/combination of subtleties and sleights, but achieves the same visual effect/outcome. We’ll get to that one soon.

DuplicityFrom a spectator shuffled deck, two five card hands of Poker are dealt. The magician takes out his own deck and whilst shuffling it, asks the spectator to choose one of the hands. Whichever hand is chosen, the magician deals out two hands, just as the spectator did, and shows the hand he dealt to match the spectator’s selected hand! Not only that, but the hand not chosen matches the magician’s discarded hand perfectly too!

At first reading this, I had a little sense of dread in my stomach; Alas, a bullshit complicated method. But as I read on, the simple and easy logic behind it smacks you right in the face and tells you to sit the fuck down and enjoy what you’re about to learn. Pit uses the stack positions rather than identities in the stack to illustrate the method, again relying on the fact that this method is not stack-specific, which makes it almost like child’s play if you know your stack. How you achieve the effect is exceptionally devious; Charles Jordan is enviously spinning in his grave.

EchoesThe magician puts down a prediction card, a card is freely chosen and they’re placed aside together. This is repeated another two times with two different spectator’s and selections. The predictions and chosen cards are gathered up and shown to be perfect mates. The method is nothing crazy or unusual for the Gemini Twin’s style plot, but the progression of free selections and being in position throughout the effect is very well thought out and practical. There’s also a small discussion regarding Truth VS Artistic truth in your presentations which is well worth reading and taking note on.

The Poker FormulasAny Poker Hand called for with any stack. I honestly called bullshit on this when I first read it because I thought it would involve me having to deconstruct the entire stack and re-order everything to achieve a few different poker hands. Woop de-fucking-doo

I wasn’t even close to how deep the rabbit hole goes…

The beauty of this is that Pit presents the method in plain sight as part of the effect; the performer brings out some pieces of paper with numbers and letters written cryptically across them. A poker hand and number of players is requested from the audience. The performer then proceeds to deal the hands out, with the desired player getting the requested hand.

Pit, Martin Eisle and the exceptionally tall and fucking amazing Denis Behr have provided us with something that gives every possible poker hand AND number of hands called for within a stack, be it Mnemonica or the Aronson stack. Better yet, if you plug in your own stack, it will do the calculations and spit out the same possibilities of poker hands/number of hands called for. This is an amazing effort from them to not only share this effect, but also the time and effort for the calculations and the tool that has made this possible. Fuck yeah.

Just Like ThatShortest description/method in the book, but still a great go-to. The spectator and magician each mentally select a card and take a random card from the pack and put it in their pocket, sight unseen. Both name their thought of cards, with the spectator’s thought of card in the magician’s pocket and the magician’s thought of card in the spectator’s pocket.

The method for this is fairly straightforward, but solid and practical if you’re comfortable with a stack. This type of presentation reminds me of an effect from ‘Redivider‘ by Phil Goldstein, but a much cleaner effect and better outcome.

QuartetsPit/Denis’ approach to locating and controlling any four of a kind in a stack. This idea was previously described in Denis’ first book, ‘Handcrafted Card Magic vol. 1’. I highly recommend both of Denis’ books for serious card magic enthusiasts and not just because I’m deathly scared that Denis will crush me in his gigantic Germanic mitts.

I didn’t really think that this needed to be explained as a “new” idea or approach. Every person I’ve spoken to while learning new stacks has given me the advice to do just this method as a training drill to get familiar with the stack. It’s not amazingly revolutionary, but it is extremely practical and smart in how the principle is laid out and usable in terms of an effect. Using a stack, there will always be an element of jazzing/improvisation depending on the possibilities of cards required and how you get them into play. I’m not going to spoil it here, but it’s a good example of being able to think on the fly to achieve an outcome, but if the outcome achieved is regularly needed/used, it will become almost instinctual and help in making your handling of the cards much more natural.

The following seven items use the Quartets principle

Top of the HeapsUsing the Quartets concept, a four of a kind is named and four piles are nonchalantly placed on the table. The top cards of each packet can be revealed to be the chosen four of a kind, or used in the Jennings Revelation, a riffle cull demonstration or any other effects which require control over the four of a kind. Nothing revolutionary for the effect itself, but it shows the practicality and versatility of the concept and approach for a number of different effects/methods in getting cards in the right positions with the least amount of actions. There’s also a small discussion on magic gestures and causality which is brilliantly articulated. While you might not do this trick, don’t skip over these pages. You’ll regret it.

Murphy’s LawA deck of cards is introduced as a ‘test’ to see how lucky or unlucky a spectator is. Any value is named and the spectator is handed the deck and asked to deal through the deck, one at a time, and stop at their chosen selection; the earlier the selected value shows up, the luckier they are. The spectator deals through the entire deck, with the last four cards in their hand being their named value. Again, method-wise, it’s not impossible to formulate how this is achievable, but the tongue-in cheek presentation and simplicity of effect is what makes this a great lesson in working your audience. There’s also Denis Behr’s ‘Plop replacement’ from his books to get you back in stack. Pit also has some discussion regarding mental snapshots, emotional hooks as well as being aware of being mindful of what your audience feels and thinks when performing an effect with this kind of ‘German’ humour, affirming the gargantuan size of Pit’s nuts are equal to his consideration and respect for his audience.

The Chosen
The exact opposite of the above effect (Pit notes he usually performs them in tandem to undo the bad ‘joojoo’); a spectator is asked to name a four of a kind to prove how lucky they can be. Four cards are touched by a spectator and outjogged from the spread, which are shown to be the named four of a kind. There’s plenty of different methods to achieve the ‘Spectator finds the Aces’ effect, but the method Pit describes is a practical and direct approach which gets a lot of mileage out of it. The juxtaposition of the two premises and key focal points in the effects is discussed, with Pit making some great points, such as where misdirection works well and where it can work to your detriment and where putting emphasis on certain parts of the performance, like the free choice from a spread, can dramatize and have a bigger impact on your audience.

IdentityThe spectator names a four of a kind (the 10’s for example) and the performer spreads through the pack, turning over and outjogging four cards throughout the pack he is adamant are the 10’s; the audience instead sees random face up indifferent cards. The deck is squared and re-spread, with the indifferent face up cards changing to the 10’s. The deck is then re-spread in the hands, showing the 10’s have changed back to their indifferent cards as they’re turned face down and left outjogged. Just before the performer moves onto the next effect, he cheekily shows the four outjogged cards have changed again to the 10’s.

I went into this effect thinking it would be a really contrived method
with reversals and weird finicky sleights; it is so far from that, it’s ridiculous. For the straightforward moves and method, you get a shitload of mileage and the cards change in extremely fair conditions three fucking times right under their noses. If you like this, see Tamariz’ version (‘All of a Kind’, p94, Mnemonica). There’s also another David Jade handling referenced in the September 2010 issue of Genii magazine. Go forth and spread shit majestically.

The IllusionistAn interesting marriage of cutting to a named four of a kind and Anneman’s ‘Nightmare Effect’; Four cards are placed sight unseen into the performer’s pocket. A four of a kind is named. The performer proceeds to cut to each card from the four of a kind, one at a time, the last being placed on the spectator’s hand before it changes into an indifferent card. The deck is spread, showing the four of a kind was never there to begin with and is finally removed from the performer’s pocket.. the cards which were put aside before the effect started.

I read this and instantly fell in love with the presentation/effect structure. For something so simplistic in approach and method, you are doing some fucking awe-inspiring things here. The presentation alone can be re-appropriated to so many effects, and Pit goes on to point out the importance and relevance of prologues and callbacks, with a certain turn of phrase or situation being foreshadowed before it comes back to brain-fuck you, like an episode of Westworld on steroids chugging Red Bull.

My favourite part was the phrase about ‘calmly’ doing part of the method; Part of my life goal is now to confuse the absolute fuck out of everyone by telling them to vigorously do a sleight, because fuck calmness. Danke sehr, Pitty-Poo!

Four-Way StopThe classic ‘Stop-me-at-any-time-before-I-run-out-of-cards-you-chuckle-fuck’ effect, but also a little taste of ’51 faces North/Open Prediction’ style effect but done with a four of a kind. A four of a kind is named, the performer proceeds to deal cards face up until a spectator tells him to stop, where the card stopped on is dealt face down. This is repeated twice more with two other spectators, with the final stopping point being dealt by a spectator themselves; the named four of a kind is shown as the cards dealt face down.

This method is really beautiful but will probably be looked over by people who aren’t comfortable performing some of the sleights involved; that being said, it’s a damn good effect and is worth the extra effort involved. There’s also some really beautiful handling and tips on how to progress through the deck, which benefits you from a method and presentation standpoint to keep things suspenseful, but also not happening at the wrong time. Pit notes that this is a good follow up to ‘Murphy’s Law’ earlier in the book, to “cure” the spectator of their bad luck. Good shit

The Right Kind of WrongTwo decks are brought out, a spectator selects one and also names a four of a kind. The deck is then cut by the spectator into four piles. Everyone hopes the top cards of the piles are the four of a kind, but they’re just random cards. The performer then opens the second deck and deals down to the position denoted by the random card on top of each of the piles, finding the named four of a kind.

Reading this effect, I had a strong sense of Deja-vu; I felt like I’d seen this premise or something very reminiscent of it at some point. Going back through notebooks, I found a mention of an effect I’d seen Vincent Hedan perform during a session in Paris. In Vincent’s infinite humility, kindness and grace, he gave me the below summary of his effect and it’s lineage:

Pit’s effect is a bit different from mine, as is his method, and his achieved routine is still great. I’m convinced it was definitely a creation independent from mine.

Here is the brief history of my version:

In July 2006, Arnaud Chevrier published (on a French private forum) an idea with Mnemonica where the magician would cut to 4 kings with a series of swing cuts. Upon revealing the 4 produced cards, people realise the cards are not kings; the magician missed.

The values of the “mistake” cards are then used to count down the rest of the deck, finding the 4 kings in this way. The next day, I adapted the effect to my own stack. I later came up with the idea of letting the spectator do the faulty production of 4 cards.

My thinking was: if I produce 4 cards that are wrong but whose values lead to the 4 cards I wanted in the first place, people will think I made the first mistake on purpose, whereas if the 4 wrong cards are produced by the spectator, apparently at random, nobody will suspect that he made a mistake on purpose, or that I forced him to make a mistake that would actually help me.

I should also point out that Pit’s effect allows the performer to produce any named four of a kind and his presentation uses 2 decks. In Chevrier’s version and my adaptation, you use only one deck but you can only produce kings, jacks or aces. Research is still in process to find ways to produce other four of a kind.

As Vincent pointed out, the effects and their staging are different, but the premise at a very high level is very similar; the spectator cuts to four values which is then used to find a four of a kind which is either pre-determined (Pit’s) or comes as a surprise (Arnaud/Vincent’s). How each of the effects are achieved and the variety of choice/options is definitely something worth looking into if you’re interested.

For Pit’s version, I like that it can be a freely named four of a kind and the spectator can shuffle a deck, but feel like the introduction of the second deck to the premise adds too much fat to a premise that’s already fairly lean and haphazard. That being said, this can play very strongly as an indirect effect/performer makes the situation right.

I’ve also found there’s an unpublished effect by Jack Parker & Tomas Blomberg circa mid-2005 which follows the same premise of a spectator cutting to four spots in the deck, with the random indifferent cards finding the Aces then the Kings. Completely different method and approach, but still a beautiful effect. Jag tackar, Tomas!

The Stack-DependentsThe last four effects in the book stand out as they do require you use Mnemonica only; Pit makes a point to note that stack-dependent magic can sometimes be complete and utter shit because of the inherent problem of the stack fragmenting the possibilities in exchange for a known order. That being said, there are always exceptions to this utter-shit rule, these four effects are prime examples

Fairy Tale PokerAn eight handed round of poker is dealt by a spectator, while they also choose throughout the game how things will pan out e.g. draw, discards. Even though some amazingly strong hands are dealt, some matching the spectator’s own choices along the way, the performer still wins with the best hand.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t really feel like this was an amazing effect for the amount of choice and changes possible. If anything, this felt like an effect that fell into the trap of what I mentioned at the start of this review; stack effects which look and feel like stack effects, great for academic discussion but not wholly amazing. I can see the justification of this being a clean, hands-off poker deal with open ended free choices to boot, but it just didn’t grab me. The verbal stratagems are nice, but not overly complex. I see this playing a lot stronger as a pseudo-gambling routine about ringing in a cold deck etc.

Quick ChangeA card is selected, the performer offering to make an amazing poker hand by cutting four random packets from the deck to make up the rest of the hand, a straight flush! The performer offers to repeat the challenge with another selected card, the Ace of Spades. The four cards of the straight flush hand visually change into the remainder of a Royal Flush in spades.

The inherent value in this effect is that the bi-product of the method allows you to build and do the next phase which is a much stronger effect and not some bullshit kicker ending. I personally love these kinds of moments and get a semi-boner whenever I find them published. The method can be adapted to Aronson (as Pit outlines) but works more succinctly with Mnemonica. The method is nothing out of the ordinary, but the effect achieved is simplistic and straight forward.

Poker Night at the ImprovAnother goddamn poker deal.. it’s like a stacked deck nightmare directed by Ed Marlo & M Night Shyamalan with 600 alternate endings. I’m just kidding, I really enjoyed this. It’s a selected card trick, hidden inside a poker themed revelation routine. The context is really what sells it; while the performer tries to have the spectator forget his selection, he proceeds to find better and better poker hands, ending up with the spectator making choices for the final few cards to make up a Royal flush, leaving him with one leftover card, his selection.

The reason why I like this more than the previous poker deal effect is that it doesn’t FEEL like a poker deal/stacked deck routine. This has more of a multiple selection/Sam the Bellhop flavor to it, going through and revealing the different hands in poker before getting to the final selected card. Just for the revelation sequence alone, this is a great routine, but the drive behind the routine becomes a mix of comedy in trying to have the spectator forget his selection while revealing poker hands as you go, bringing everything cleanly together as you end. Bad ass.

Game of ChanceAnother interesting routine possible with the Tamariz stack, reminiscent of Vernon’s ‘The Third Color‘. The performer offers a game where the spectator and performer have to guess on the color of whatever the third card dealt will be, red or black. The spectator continues to lose regardless of what color they choose. A second spectator is brought into the mix, with the remainder of the deck being dealt to the performer and the two spectators to compete with who will get their chosen color. The performer gets a mix of red/black cards, while the spectators are dealt all cards of the color they didn’t bet on!

This has element’s of the Vernon effect with a flavor of Stewart James’ ‘Miraskill‘ and Paul Curry’s ‘Out of This World‘, but with a really interesting method that would make Elmsley cream in his pantaloons. While the effect is not inherent to a stacked deck, it can be easily worked into from Mnemonica and also back home to Mnemonica quite easily once you’re done. This is a lot of fun to try out and see if you like it; not a miracle but still pretty enjoyable

So, that’s it.

I really thoroughly enjoyed reading/reviewing this book. The content, the layout, the time and effort that went into it really sets the bar as to what a magic book in general should be like to read and enjoy, let alone a book on something as complex as stack work.

So, why does this all matter?

I’ve seen numerous lectures and sessions with some of the most amazing material done with a normal deck of cards, everyone sitting on the edge of their seats, almost frothing at the mouth waiting for the explanation and the moment they find out it’s a stacked deck, that interest and excitement is gone; that magic and sense of wonder in people’s eyes just disappears. I’m not sure what does it; the idea that it’s too hard to learn a stack, or the method is too complicated, but it shows that the majority of magicians who don’t already use a stack are disregarding a plethora of insane possibilities all because it falls into the ‘too hard’ basket, which is bullshit.

Pit’s book is a perfect example of what can be achieved with a stacked deck, regardless of how technically or mentally capable you are. The content is easily accessible by any level of reader, from the complete beginner to stack work all the way up to the die-hard, live and die by the stack performers.

Is it worth it?

Of course. I would bet both my nuts and the sack that you will enjoy this book if you want to push yourself away from the standard bullshit magicians do. Even if you don’t end up performing some of the material from this book, the lessons learned for the structure, the analysis and approach warrant your full attention and understanding.

Now that the shit storm has settled and everyone has seen the man-child fumble his way through this, here’s basically what happened:

Man tries to start shit by telling people he’s better than someone else

Man proceeds to ramp shit up by advertising an exclusive product to prove he is better than someone else and creates a lot of buzz because of how utterly fucking ridiculous this sounds

Man releases shoddy, half-assed annotations which literally reads like a fucking edgy 12 year old with his first big-boy pen, realising he could draw dicks and other things in his text books and giggle to himself about how cool and smart he is

Man then proclaims in his best Tyler Durden/Joker impression with anarchistic edgy bullshit that he is amazing and magic is dead

Honestly. The annotations were general comments, devolving into sparing comments, underlines and random bullshit before it turned into him just drawing hand tattoos and scribbles on the hand diagrams and putting comments like:

“THIS SHOULD BE THE NEXT ERDNASE DECK”

“MAKE A RARE RED ONE”

“THIS SHOULD BE THE NEXT JOKER”

or circling the number 52 on a page or diagram, because it’s such an amazing number because it’s the number of cards in a deck <3<3<3<3

A friend and I had a chat about this the other night. I re-watched one of his earlier DVD’s (Mechanic) that he did around 2013, which focused solely on Daniel doing “gambling moves”.

He shows a number of techniques which are bastardized versions of more commons techniques (Zarrow shuffle etc.) or handling so jagged or unusual that they would not fly in a game of blind monkeys flinging shit at each other.

He also openly says about most of the stuff that he’s showing that he’s never used it in a game, nor would it actually fly in a game. He also goes on to say that he is showing some techniques that can’t be used in a game, but can be used in gambling expose context to show what card cheats are capable of (an oxymoron so intense, it hurts).

Right at the end, he says that everything (EVERY-FUCKING-THING) that we’ve seen was techniques he learned or created before he was exposed or got into magic, that he used to cheat at cards and make a living.

Holy. Shit. Keep your fucking story straight you fucking twat.

Even something like palming, Madison has the balls to call the methods from EATCT ‘too hard for a gambler’, as if he lived through the era where Erdnase (if he was a cheater) would have done the work. He also faults Erdnase for being too mechanical and focusing too much on the method in his palming, while he absolutely butchers the top palm, with his hitch-hiker thumb sticking out so far, he may as well shove it up his own ass.

After all this, he then says, he doesn’t use it, he doesn’t do it, but he’ll still teach it.

He’s a complete moron. I feel like he’s just shit talking Erdnase to appear edgy/non-conformist, but also because he can’t actually do the work well at all. All of his advice and commentary, from his DVD’s to this newer project, is just re-hashed and re-purposed opinions from other people who actually can.

If Magic is dead, Daniel Madison is the one who killed it.

Hindsight is 20/20, darling

Shit-Slap-Paddy-Whack,
xoxo,
LH

P.S.

In case you’ve got a case of the bullshits from this, here’s a worthwhile palming method to check out:

Is this the Twilight Zone? Am I experiencing Wesley James Does Erdnase 2: Electric Boogaloo?

How the fuck can anyone be so conceited to assume they know ANYTHING about an anonymous man, from a book written over a hundred years ago, because they did a few scribbles in the borders around their shitty Dover edition of Erdnase in a year?

Jason England – His ad copy boasted of “over 10,000 hours” of practice in that year. There are 8760 hours in a year. He’s apparently very good at time management also.

Chad Long – I’m worse than all of you and I HAVE proven it. 😜

R Paul Wilson – I’m better than Hugard but only half as good as Frederick Braue.

Derek DelGaudio – Look. Madison knows exactly what he’s doing with this sort thing. It’s not ignorance or arrogance, it’s exploitation, and a tactic trolls use to drum up business. Basically, he’s the Milo Yiannopoulos of magic.

Chris Kenner – I thought it was an SNL skit at first.

Jason Ladanye – #betterthanadeadguy

Harapan Ong – Madison First, Erdnase Second

John Lovick – I don’t know Daniel Madison. But my guess, based on that video is that he’s half joking.

There’s been a statement released from Ellusionist that some people have been making death threats to Daniel over the whole situation since he put up an “Apology” video where he directly quotes Heath Ledger’s Joker.

He laughed, I laughed. The fridge laughed. Then continued on with my life, after unplugging the fridge. Just in case.

I replied to a comment on it, which I’m reposting below:

I would say to them exactly what I’m going to say to you; calm the fuck down.

It’s 2017, everyone can have a negative opinion and hate shit without taking it to the point of being offended, offending or threatening anyone.

So for someone who is going to make death threats on the internet over card tricks (lol), they need to seek help and grow the fuck up. Shit could be way worse.

Regarding the magicians you highly respect making comments on the whole debacle, I don’t see any well renowned magicians making any threatening remarks, just stating how ridiculous they think the whole thing is, so kind of a dick move in lumping them in with the people making threats. Just sayin’

Also, please realise you’re bitching about a fictional character’s opinion, on the internet (mine or his?)

I know I’m extremely late to this, but I needed some time to flesh out what I wanted to say.

We’ve lost two monster names in the magic world last week; Robert (Bob) Cassidy and Daryl Martinez AKA Daryl Easton.

I never knew or spoke with Bob, but seeing the sheer breadth of his knowledge, influence and exposure in both the mentalism and magic in general, he has been nothing but highly spoken of in the group of people I look to for their opinions, advice and thoughts. My sincerest condolences to his family, friends and students around the world.

For Daryl, I remember first seeing a friend perform some of his work and spending months and hundred of dollars, hoarding basically every book, manuscript and DVD he’s ever done, even buying the reprints of his first books recently redone by Vanishing Inc. I spoke with him a few times via email, and cannot say anything but good things for how he spoke to me, and his enthusiasm about magic; not his own magic, but magic in general

He was among the first guys in the 80’s/90’s to collate the best effects, methods and techniques, along with people like Michael Ammar, to the mainstream market in a format that wasn’t written.

Some will say videos will never be as valuable as a magic book, but all it really did was complement the written word and make it accessible to so many more people; not just for what Daryl created himself, but the ideas, techniques, effect/routine structure and tips that he had painstakingly spent his life searching out, learning and using. It brought the magic scene into the new world. We all still know and use something we’ve learned from Daryl, even if it wasn’t his, that would have otherwise never been known if it weren’t for him. And for that, I say, thank you.

For Daryl’s unexpected passing, the below message has been shared around on Facebook from some big names in support for his family in this time of grieving:

PLEASE DONATE TO THE DARYL EASTON FAMILY FUND

The office at the Magic Castle has received calls from members and magicians around the world, asking how one can offer support and donations to the Daryl Easton family.

The Academy of Magical Arts has now established a fund to receive donations for Alison Easton, Daryl’s wife, and their two daughters. You can also send bereavement cards for Alison to the AMA offices as well, who will forward them to the family.

If you would like to make a donation to the family, please send a check payable to “The Academy of Magical Arts, Easton Family Fund” to:

The Academy will work with Alison and the family, and pick a date in the future to hold a memorial for Daryl.

If you have any questions, please email the General Manager, Joe Furlow, at: jfurlow@magiccastle.com.

As time goes on, the people we grew up with, looked up to and idolised will become fewer and fewer. Be good to one another, don’t be a cunt to each other (I’m looking at you, Joe Monti, you complete fuckwad) and share your ideas.

Here’s a few things that I’ve become aware of recently. Thought y’all should know

Kaufman & Co

Kaufman announced he currently has 3 books in the works, which look really interesting:

Ryan Matney (Card magic)

Harapan Ong (Card magic)

Theodore DeLand (Card magic + gaffs)

What we really want to be published though is:

The Jennings book whose delay could be fathering its own children at this point

The Jack Birnman book, delayed by the inevitable bullshit of pride among publishers

The Geoff Latta book(s), still no word on what’s holding it up

Tony Chang book (C’mon Tyler, baby, don’t be so meaaaaan)

Something else I caught wind of was an interesting entry on Denis Behr’s Conjuring Archive, showing a collection of the Less is More items as one bound hardcover book, published by Vanishing Inc in 2017.

Seeing as this collection has not seen the light of day for any reviews, advertisements or listings, it’s a bit of a slap in the face for anyone who got the original manuscripts.

Just found out my favourite Freddie Krueger impersonator, Doug Conn, is doing a sale on his site for his ‘Built to Last’ and ‘Pinky Swear’ DVDs, including a gaffed deck and some sponge bunnies for his routines for $65 and free shipping within the US!

If you haven’t read it, check out my review on ‘Pinky Swear‘. His ‘Built to Last’ DVD set is just as good. Highly recommended.

Aside from having one of the most wonderful heads of hair in the history of mankind (I may or may have not put my dick in and around that majestic quaff at one point), he is also an extremely humble and talented guy with very expressive eyebrows.

I only got a chance to session with him on one magical and romantic night a few years back, but in the brief time we got to hang out, I saw some of the most refreshing ideas and methods I’d seen in a while. That which he has released (Hessian, Gödel and Hashtag) looks like how it would be to have actual magic powers. And the truth is, his work and handlings look just as flawless and perfect in person.

So when Alex posted up about his lecture notes in the land of perpetual grim weather, cups of tea and warm pints of beer, I sent him a loving message, along the lines of ‘Send me a copy of them before I fornicate with your hair again plz’. And here we are.

The notes consist of 7 items, wonderfully explained and laid out with some of the best photographs and explanations I’ve seen in recent years; you can tell he gives a shit about his work and sharing it with people. He writes with the intent, purpose and passion that you would hope to see when reading a new magic book or set of notes. The title is very fitting; an Italian word for nonchalance and almost thoughtlessness in your abilities. Alex and his work is exactly that; a studied carelessness.

I thoroughly enjoyed these notes because it was not only some new effects/presentations, but also some extremely enjoyable tangents on methods and thoughts on methods and how to modify or replace the fundamental things we do in each performance to make them that bit better, for the audience but also for that self-gratifying feeling of doing something perverse.

Shall we?

Card to PocketA refreshing take on the method for card to pocket. I really enjoyed this. The approach mixes an idea that Alex and Will Houston discussed with something that we all know but barely every use anymore. The thing I loved most about this write-up is that it touches on something that many people fear when learning a new method or effect; how the fuck can I get away with this? Alex’s advice here is miles ahead of the usual “just do it until you get comfortable”. The progression of learning magic means the methods and ideas we first learn get put aside and considered as ‘trivial’; they’ll never be as useful, harder is better etc. This proves otherwise. The method also has some awesome little nuances throughout to make standard moves that little bit better. A concept not often considered or discussed, aside from Aaron Fisher’s ‘The Paper Engine’ and other works, is whether a particular sleight or sequence produces tension in a muscular or movement sense. This sequence in particular is well thought out, the choreography is well explained. Thoroughly enjoyed this.

Also, kudos for the use of the word ‘doddle’; what the fuck does that even mean?

Micro BreaksA discourse on breaks, and methods around getting and maintaining breaks. I didn’t know I could enjoy reading about breaks as much as I did. Alex does an exceptional job of looking at something as fundamental as a pinky break and looking at how to make them smaller, but also being able to salvage the smallest of breaks with much more certainty.

What I loved most about this section was the reference to a Bill Simon control (with a slight, but beautiful change in how to do the move by Will Houston) a twist on a LePaul control and further discussion around all-around break transfers. I didn’t realise the issue I had with the Bill Simon control until I read Will Houston’s improvement; the original started and ended with the hand in a weird position, this one just feels extremely open but also leaves the hand in the perfect position to casually take the deck. This discourse alone is just absolute gold. The photos at first glance will show you just how careless and free the controls can be, looking absolutely fair while being completely controlled. The micro break feels like a relaxed technique that doesn’t seem to be sure fire but actually is.There’s also a sneaky tangent about a glimpse and a key-card. Good shit.For those who want to see the wrong way to ‘show’ that you ‘aren’t’ holding a ‘break’ check out the ‘work’ by Marlo in ‘Revolutionary’ Card Technique, particularly the advanced fingertip control chapter.

Mystery CardAn interesting take on the ‘mystery card’ plot. A card is selected and signed and lost in the pack. The magician comments about how familiar the whole situation feels and pulls out a card from his pocket with a different back design, from a trick he did a few days before. It turns out to be the signed selection, but with a different back design to the deck it was chosen from. I’ve omitted most of the presentation because it’s a very quirky and enjoyable premise/presentation mix that Alex likens to something Harapan Ong would do (Hi Harapan!). The method is great, using a Tony Chang variation of a control and part of the card to pocket idea discussed earlier (which turns out to be a variation on an old Fred Robinson idea), but approached in a slightly different manner. The appearance to a spectator is refreshingly direct which is often unusual in variations on this plot. Part of the presentation also mentions an additional phase/change of the card in the pocket transforming from the same card’s identity to the same card with the signature. How this is achieved is kind of glazed over unfortunately, but Alex gives a basic way to achieve this. Would’ve loved a bit more of a discussion/focus on this phase or other possibilities within the effect structure

Instant AssemblyIn a Dear-Mr-Fantasy-esque (ala John Bannon) recounting of events (albeit, an extremely British version), Alex politely talks shit about a dinner out with friends while narrating his performance; the whole damn restaurant then joins in on the method as he goes through it. What the fuck am I reading? This is one of the effects which really needed the photos to follow along with the moves which are inherently covered by gestures and timing which don’t come across too clearly in the write-up unfortunately without re-reading the same parts over and over to sift through the story for the method (Sorry Alex). I really enjoyed the combination of ideas, but felt like the style of explanation and omission of photos makes this one of the weaker items in the notes. You may think otherwise. I enjoyed reading this, but learning it was less enjoyable as the odd one out for the description and photographs. Still a decent effect.

Diamond Cut DiamondAlex’s take on one of my favourite plots by the great Alex Elmsley. Some cards are put aside, a card is selected and left outjogged in the deck. The cards put aside at the start are the Ace through Ten of Diamonds. A number is named. The card in the position named turns into the selection. The card that’s been outjogged and in view the whole time is the missing Diamond card. I really love the little changes Alex has brought to the plot to make it a little bit more open and paced differently. Also, the beauty of Alex’s method means the selection can also have an odd-coloured back and it won’t be seen until the very end. He also has an alternative method thrown in at the end of the effect which gives the same appearance but has some different, more free conditions for performance.

Cull EffectThe Four Queens are removed from the pack. Another four of a kind is named by the spectator and shown still spread throughout the deck which is then put aside. With just a shake, the four Queens in your hand turn into the named four of a kind. The handling is very organic and feels pretty fun to perform. The handling has some tips on the Ascanio spread which are well worth noting. The effect is fairly basic, no presentation discussed or explained, but just the little nuances of the handling are worth learning; they open up a whole range of getting into effects and positions that everyone will use at some point, so why not try something different?

A Childish Spelling TrickAn interesting take on spelling to two selections, which can be handed to your spectators to spell to themselves. While the method and presentation description is fairly straightforward, it’s a really nice approach from a shuffled deck. I would’ve liked a bit more of a discussion on the method or variations, and also a bit more of the quirky presentations and tangents seen earlier in the notes.

I really fucking enjoyed these. Unfortunately, without attending Alex’s lecture, I can only go by the write-up, but it was the kind of work I love to read and learn.

New shit, but not trying to claim it as ‘revolutionary’ or ‘the next big thing’. It’s actual usable material with a fresh take on fundamental effects and methods that everyone knows and has learned at some point in their time doing card magic. Throughout the notes, it took me back to when we sessioned and how much enjoyment I got from the ideas and changes Alex showed me.

The quality of the work and layout is exceptionally done, but there are a couple of items without photographs/tangents and discussions that is seen in other items; The momentum and discussion/depth in the first few items is amazing, but it feels like it’s not as fleshed out in the last few items. Regardless, I would still buy these notes all over again, based solely on the card to pocket ideas, controls and variations Alex gives. It honestly has nothing to do with that amazing head of hair….

…OK. Maybe I lied. It kind of does. But the notes are still awesome.

Currently, they are only available directly from Alex’s store for £25 plus shipping. Best to message Alex directly regarding availability and pricing.

And, to be honest, I felt a bit shit for letting it get this far without putting up any content.

One of the biggest things about doing this kind of thing is the amount of time and effort that goes into it; reading, learning, dissecting and understanding the content and being able to appropriate how I feel about it into the mouthpiece that is my sweet baby Larry.

In the last year, there’s a lot of shit that has kept me from putting in what I think is enough time and effort for each post; I don’t want to regurgitate the same shitty ideas and bullshit opinions ad nauseum. This ain’t the Cafe. As I learn and grow as a person and a magician, so will my views. And, by extension, so will Larry’s own bullshit.

Is this an excuse or a cry for help? Am I asking for money or your sympathy?

Fuck no

But I need everyone to understand; shit happens.

I don’t get free reviewer copies of books and notes

I don’t get paid for my time.

I don’t do this so I can get my rocks off on the number of views my site gets

I do this because I enjoy doing it, and because you guys enjoy reading it. Whether you agree with me or not, you’re here because you want to be.